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Oil your zippers

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Hawaiis
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Oil your zippers

Postby Hawaiis » Sun Apr 07, 2013 10:51 pm

My 2012 Cabrinha zipper was rusted and took me a good hour to work it open.
These products from China use inferior materials, I almost had to cut open the bag.
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Last edited by Hawaiis on Thu Apr 11, 2013 8:19 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Oil you zippers

Postby Kupono » Sun Apr 07, 2013 11:06 pm

Yup, the same thing happened to me on an Epic bag. I ended up busting it. Had to get the kite out.

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Re: Oil you zippers

Postby jrfiol » Mon Apr 08, 2013 12:18 am

Instead of oil, use vinegar...

trrrust me, :naughty:

Fe(OH)3 + 3CH3CO2H -> Fe(CH3CO2)3 + 3H2O

or, maybe use ketchup! spread it on. I submerge bolted on stuff, like a bag zipper (try to only get the stuck zipper section dipped in), in vinegar. It works. I haven't tried ketchup or mayonnaise, but it should work as well if you smear it on... in theory.

Oil leaves a stain.

Good luck!

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Re: Oil you zippers

Postby sarc » Mon Apr 08, 2013 2:39 am

Use electronics contact cleaner from an hardware store (dissolves the salt in seconds)
Use Coke
Wet it in water for a few minutes
Swear at it

All above work

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Re: Oil you zippers

Postby rtz » Mon Apr 08, 2013 3:34 am

Yeah these $2,000 Cabrinha's are primo:

Image

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Re: Oil you zippers

Postby Kite2Heaven » Mon Apr 08, 2013 7:24 am

Jrfiol - Vinegar hey, can i get some fries with that ;)

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Re: Oil you zippers

Postby Peter_Frank » Mon Apr 08, 2013 11:12 am

Interesting 8)

It is not a matter of "cheap" or not, it will happen to all zippers.

If they are cheap, they will break (the handle) when you try to open if stuck - the good/strong ones will hold (better at least) :thumb:

Especially boardbags - here you often have two zippers, and maybe only use one of them.
The "left alone" one at the other end, will then get stuck without you knowing :roll:

And bags with tools (fins, spare footstraps, lines, epoxy etc etc) will be REALLY in the risk group for getting stuck, as you most often dont use these that often.
On the other hand, if you dont wear these bags to the beach normally, only stored in the car, they will last eventhough they COULD get stuck.

To get a stuck zipper free, I just pour a slant of hot water from the coffee boiler over the zipper, and that does it usually :rollgrin:
In "tough" cases, you have to take a hammer and a piece of wood and hammer on the end of the zipper through the wood - this way you can get it free without destroying the zipper handle nor the zipper itself.


I think all bags and travelbags and wind-suits with zippers etc - "die" this way, only a matter of time (years) till they can be put in the garbage bin :naughty:
--------------------------


So would be better to be able to remove the "white" from the area - as even when you get the zipper free, there is still some remains on this very spot and it might feel like a "bump" here.

I've never heard anyone finding something that work well actually, so really interesting now :

Vinegar ?
Cola ?
Contact cleaner ?
Oil ?

I must say I am a bit doubtfull about this... But would LOVE if there was a solution 8)

:D Peter

PS: The O.P. is not talking about our usual well known "salt" issue it seems, but "rust" ?
Have never experienced this myself though.....

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Re: Oil you zippers

Postby Kamikuza » Mon Apr 08, 2013 11:47 am

I've gotten used kites with stuck bag zippers before, but it's not happened to my kites...

The problem I had with zippers... was actually on my kite - the LE bladder access zipper tab was sticking up when I packed the kite... and poked a hole through the canopy :( 2 in fact :baby:

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Re: Oil you zippers

Postby SENDIT! » Mon Apr 08, 2013 6:56 pm

I have had pretty good success with using a small pair of needle nose pliers to grip the outside of the zipper itself and push/pull it back/forth until it starts to free up. Once you've got the zipper free, take a nylon bristle brush and clean both the zipper tracks and the zipper itself. Once those are all clear of any leftover corrosion, wipe them down with a nice dry micro fiber cloth. Finally, take a little piece of candle wax and rub it up and down the zipper tracks. Run the zipper up and down over that back and forth, until the friction helps to melt it a little bit. Wipe off the excess wax and you should now be good for another year! Hope this helps! This also works for drysuit zippers!

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Re: Oil you zippers

Postby Peter_Frank » Mon Apr 08, 2013 7:29 pm

Here are two typical examples:

One that went "bad"
1.jpg
Bag

And one that probably "is" stuck for good - but can try with different things for testing now.
Althoug I dont need it - the upper zipper works fine :thumb:
2.jpg
Just to show what we are "up against" typically - there are worse examples too, but these are pretty common 8)


I havent found anything that works good on "salted" zippers, yet :(

Interesting if anybody know something that might work ?

:D Peter


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